Monthly Archives: October 2009

Susan Scott is a local artist and patient of Dr Dawn Bearden at Visionary Eyecare(The Indepenedent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines. She had previously always had a problem finding an eye doctor who could address all of her creative and artistic visual needs.

One day she was having problems doing an art project and her friend, Evelyn (who is an artist and a patient of Dr Bearden) recommended that Susan go to see Dr Dawn Bearden.

This is Susan’s story…

While Susan and Evelyn were doing an art project together – Susan had THREE pairs of glasses in front of her and still seemed to be having difficulty seeing what she was doing. None of the glasses seemed to meet her artistic visual needs. She felt that she just could not find an Eye Doctor that could give her a prescription that would allow her to see clearly enough to create her art.

After Susan was recommended to Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden, from her friend, Evelyn, she realized that Dr Bearden is ALSO an artist. Evelyn originally met Dr Bearden Evelyn because Evelyn was teaching Dr Bearden how to make stained glass art at her store – Glass By Design. Dr Bearden is also passionate about photography. Dr Bearden started taking pictures around age 12 when she was in middle school, she had minored in Photography in College and also had recently attended the Ft Lauderdale Art Institute for Photography. For as long as she can remember – Dr Bearden has ALWAYS had a camera in her hand. Susan felt a connection with Dr Bearden because she felt that they were both artistic and creative individuals. She felt at ease because she knew that THIS particular Doctor would understand her specific visual needs.

After the eye exam, Susan was very happy with the thoroughness of the eye examination. She FINALLY received a glasses prescription that met ALL of her artistic visual needs and she was impressed that the Doctor answered all of her questions in a very clear manner in which Susan could completely understand.

Susan recently moved to Washington, DC – BUT, she still plans yearly trips to South Florida so she can come to Visionary Eyecare and see Dr Dawn Bearden for her annual eye exam.

The above video is from EyeMaginations and gives a great description of what Cataracts are:

Cataracts are a normal and common part of the aging process but, they do not have to interfere with your lifestyle. A cataract is a cloudiness of the crystalline lens inside of your eye. As your lens gets cloudier, your vision will gradually become more blurred.

The human eye may best be compared to a camera. When you take a picture, the lens in the front of the camera allows light through and then focuses that light on the film in the back of the camera. When the light hits the film, a picture is taken. The eye works in much the same way.

In youth, the crystalline lens of your eye is clear and allows light to pass through. Light is focused by your cornea and your crystalline lens onto a thin layer of nerve tissue in the back of your eye called – the retina. Your retina works like the film in a camera. When the focused light hits the retina – a “picture” is taken and sent to your brain.

While a dirty camera lens blurs a picture, any significant cataract or cloudiness in your crystalline lens will blur the images that you see.

When a cataract becomes significant – your vision can become quite blurry. It is suggested if your vision drops below 20/40 or so….then it is common to be told to see an eye surgeon to have cataract surgery.

This surgery involves taking out the cloudy crystalline lens (cataract) and replacing it with a clear implant. Often your surgeon can even do a calculation that can place your current eyeglass prescription into the lens implant. The result after the cataract surgery can be much clearer vision and often there is no need for glasses after the surgery!

For more information – see your local Optometrist or Dr Dawn Bearden or Dr Anna-Kay Tenn in Pembroke Pines 954-430-3808 or Sunrise 954-851-9949 for your yearly eye exam and they will be happy to discuss cataracts and cataract surgery options with you!

Starlene Carter came into Visionary Eyecare (Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines in January 2001. She was in the area and decided to stop in to schedule an eye examination for herself the following week. She was not intending to get an eye exam that day – her plans were to spend that day shopping!

Our Office Manager, Carol Marsh, was there that day and convinced Starlene to go ahead and get her eye exam that same day since the office was not busy and the Doctor (Dr Dawn Bearden) would be able to see her right away. Starlene agreed but, was insistent that she would NOT have her pupils dilated that day. Her shopping was waiting and she did not want to “mess up her day” with that “dilation thing”. Carol told her that the Doctor would talk to her during the exam about the importance of dilation. Still Starlene would just not be convinced….

When Starlene met Dr Bearden for the first time – Dr Bearden began to explain and stress the importance of pupillary dilation. Dr Bearden explained that this was Starlene’s first eye exam in our Visionary Eyecare office, there could be a multitude of eye diseases or problems that Starlene may be unaware of (because most eye problems do NOT cause any symptoms like blurry vision, headache, eye pain etc) and that Dr Bearden may NOT be able to detect these issues if Starlene did not allow the Doctor to dilate her pupils. Dr Bearden also explained that Florida laws requires your Optometrist to dilate your pupils on the initial eye exam when you have an eye exam with a new Optometrist. Reluctantly…..VERY reluctantly….Starlene finally agreed.

This simple decision absolutely saved Starlene’s vision.

During the eye exam, all seemed very normal. Starlene had no family history of eye disease, she was able to see 20/20 in each eye with her new glasses prescription, she had NO eye pain, NO headaches, NO discomfort, her eye pressures were normal, her blood pressure was normal, good color vision etc. But, when Dr Dawn Bearden dilated Starlene’s pupils – she saw 2 very LARGE retinal tears (retinal detachments) in Starlene’s right eye that posed a HUGE threat to Starlene’s vision in her right eye. These tears could have eventually caused blindness in her eye had they not been detected during the dilation and then properly treated.

Immediately, Dr Bearden called Dr Jay Levy – who is a local ophthalmologist who specializes in surgery of the retina. Dr Bearden sent Starlene to see Dr Levy – who did surgery on Starlene’s right eye to repair the retinal tears in her right eye.

Starlene is now a loyal patient of Dr Dawn Bearden’s. She is still able to see 20/20 in each eye and has had no further problems from the retinal tears that were surgically repaired by Dr Levy. Each and every year during her routine eye exam with Dr Bearden, you can find Starlene out in the waiting room telling her story to ALL of the other patients in the office. She does a GREAT job in educating people and everyone that she comes in contact with about the importance of yearly eye examinations and the VITALimportance of pupillary dilation.

It saved Starlene’s vision…..and it can do the same for you and for the people in your life who come in for their annual eye exam!

Josephine is a 42 year old, 160 pound gorilla that lives in Miami at the MetroZoo. She had severe cataracts that made her vision so blurry – they only allowed her to see shadows. The cataracts were impairing her vision to the point where her quality of life was becoming severely diminished.

Recently, Josephine underwent cataract surgery – which is a very common surgery for humans (especially here in South Florida) but, is extremely rare in gorillas (it has only been performed a handful of times). The surgery was very risky due to Josephine’s advanced age of 42 (gorillas usually live to around age 50) and the necessity to administer general anesthesia.

Josephine had top ranking human and veterinary Eye Doctors attending to her pre-op and her surgery. They were able to remove her cloudy lenses (cataracts) inside of her eyes and replace the old lenses with new, clear synthetic ones to hopefully restore the clarity of her vision once again.

Scott Nelson had been a trusting and loyal patient of Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines for over 10 years. Earlier this year he even recorded a public Video Testimonial for his Eye Doctor – Dr Dawn Bearden – which appeared on YouTube, our blog and our website. Tragically, on Tuesday September 29th on the 10pm news, Channel 7’s reporter – Nicole Linsalata – reported that Scott and his wife (Julie) were found shot in their home in Pembroke Pines. During the news report – they aired clips of Scott’s Video Testimonial for his Optometrist (Dr Bearden) that they found on YouTube.

According to the news report by Channel 7 – Scott’s 18yo son, Andrew, called police around 330am saying that someone had broken into their home and that his parents had been shot. Scott and his wife were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where he was listed in critical condition and his wife was listed in serious condition.

The news report stated that Scott fell in love and married his next door neighbor (Julie) on the 4th of July of this year. Friends said that he was a wonderful friend and a happy newlywed.

Dr Bearden clearly remembers Scott to be a very sweet, caring and loyal man. She was shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news of her longtime patient.